A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never
failing.
Our present help amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe does seek to work us woe,
With craft and power great, and armed with cruel hate,
On earth without an equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be
losing.
But there is one who takes our side, the One of God's own
choosing.
You ask who that may be? Christ Jesus sets us free!
With mighty power to save, victorious o'er the grave,
Christ will prevail triumphant.

And though this world with devils filled should threaten
to undo us,
We will not fear, for God has willed the truth to triumph
through us.
The powers of evil grim, we tremble not for them;
Their rage we can endure, for 10, their doom is sure;
One little word shall fell them.

That word beyond all earthly powers for ever is abiding:
The spirit and the gifts are ours, for Christ is with us siding.
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life, also;
The body they may kill; God's truth shall triumph still;
God's reign endures forever.

Let us recall members of groups who were targeted
for destruction because of their religion, race, ethnic group
or nationality, and who perished in the great genocides that
occurred in the 20th Century.

The 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey, who were massacred
or who died in death marches into exile, in 1915- 1918

The 7 million citizens of Ukraine and nearby areas, including
many thousands of Soviet Germans, who perished in Josef
Stalin's enforced famine of 1932 -1933

The 300,000 Chinese in Nanking who were slaughtered by
the Japanese Imperial Army in just 6 week's time in 1937

The 6 million European Jews and others who were systematically
exterminated by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi followers between
1938 and 1945

The 2 million peasant farmers in Cambodia who were killed
by Pot Pol and the Khmer Rouge in 1975 -1979

The 800,000 Tutsis who were killed by Hutu militia in
Rwanda in 1994

The ethnic cleansing of 200,000 Muslims by the Serbian
military, in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1997

Let us honor the nearly-forgotten members of our own ethnic
group -hundreds of thousands of people, including members
of almost every German-Russian family-who died beginning with
the earliest resettlements at the end of the Czarist era,
or who perished under the Soviet govern ment, especially during
the Great Terror of the Stalinist regime and the genocidal
exile of World War II.

Let us remember those German-Russians in Volhynia, Besssarabia
and other border regions, who died from hardships and deprivations
during the earliest forced migrations, in 1915- 1917.

Leader: Their patience was boundless, their sorrows,
immeasurable.All: We will always honor their memory.

Those who suffered the atrocities, massacres and grain
requisitions of the revolutionary and post-revolutionary
period

Leader: Their patience was boundless, their sorrows,
immeasurable.All: We will always honor their memory.

Those who starved to death in the Great Famine of 1920
-1924

Leader: Their patience was boundless, their sorrows,
immeasurable.All: We will always honor their memory.

Those who perished during collectivization and the dispossession
of the “kulaks", and as a result of the enforced
starvation, banishments, purges and executions of the Stalin
era, in the 1930s

Leader: Their patience was boundless, their sorrows,
immeasurable.All: We will always honor their memory.

Those who died during the mass deportation of Soviet Germans
to the remote corners of Siberia and Central Asia, at the
beginning of Winter, 1941

Leader: Their patience was boundless, their sorrows,
immeasurable.All: We will always honor their memory.

Those who died of cold, despair, hunger, exhaustion, illness,
murder or execution in the Work Army and in the prison camps
between 1942 and 1945, and after

Leader: Their patience was boundless, their sorrows,
immeasurable.All: We will always honor their memory.

Those who experienced "repatriation" from Germany
and Poland at the end of World War II, and faced death by
shootings, freezing and starvation once back in the Soviet
Union

Leader: Their patience was boundless, their sorrows,
immeasurable.All: We will always honor their memory.

Let us remember the generation of German-Russian children,
who grew up in poverty in households without fathers; or who,
as orphans, spent childhood and youth in government "
Children's Homes" ; or who saw no school rooms whatever,
and only forced labor battalions after the age of fifteen.

Let us remember the agony of our family members who experienced
separation from their loved ones, when parents, siblings and
cousins were scattered to the far corners of the vast Soviet
Union, and even those who survived then found themselves at
the end of the war, living in different republics than their
loved ones, often even on different continents.

Let us remember the loss of culture: the language, customs
and traditions, religions, the German names of birthplaces
and even individuals' given names, which all were intended
for extinction.

And the graves. Let us remember those who are buried in
abandoned village cemeteries; along roadsides and railbeds
where they were hastily laid to rest by loved ones while on
the way into exile; or in the anonymous mass graves and random
burial places outside the Siberian work camps and penal institutions,
where they were shot, died in the snow while laboring, or
were found by fellow- prisoners, dead on their cold, plank
beds.

All: Their patience was boundless, their sorrows,
immeasurable. We will always honor their memory.

Closing Prayer ............................................................................................Pastor
Gutsche
O God, we pray that you will look with sympathy upon the whole
human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect
our hearts; break down the walls that separate us, and unite
us in bonds of love. Teach us and all human beings to love
our enemies; lead us and them from prejudice to truth; deliver
us and all people from hatred, cruelty and revenge, and allow
us all to
work together in reconciliation.
We pray for sound government in every land. Bless us along
with all the leaders on our continent, that we may be people
at peace among ourselves, and an inspiration to other nations
of the earth. Guide all nations of the world into the ways
of justice and truth, and establish harmony among them.

Lord, help us to look with compassion upon the people in
this world who today live with injustice, terror, disease
and death as their constant companions, and embrace them as
our brothers and sisters. We know that our people had no advocate
during their long and arduous journey through the 20th Century.
We pray that you will encourage and strengthen the many individuals
who devote their lives to helping the millions of people who
suffer today, in the 21st Century. May their efforts bring
about improved security, human rights, health, social systems,
religious freedoms, economic development and protection of
the law.

Finally, give us the empathy and strength to hold
the painful history of our people, who suffered so greatly and
died so tragically in our former homeland, close to our hearts,
that we may benefit from their experience and grow in wisdom.
When we are fearful, pass on to us their courage; when we are
weak, remind us of their fortitude. Just as they were ever generous
and compassionate, grant us the grace to remain always charitable
and caring in our daily lives.

Give us the vision and zeal to work for the just treatment of
all people. Teach us to preserve your peace everywhere.

And now let us repeat together the words
our Lord has taught us:Lord's Prayer.............................................................................................
said by allBenediction

Pastor: The Lord bless you and
keep you and the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious
to you.All: The Lord lift his countenance
upon us and give us peace.

Dismissal Hymn: So
nimm denn meine Hände.............................................
sung by all